


Last First Kiss

by PigSlay, xoxoLaurmani



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, F/F, M/M, POV Multiple, Sex Mentions, Swear Words, but no actual sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 11:52:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3208178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PigSlay/pseuds/PigSlay, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoLaurmani/pseuds/xoxoLaurmani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Niall are getting married and who better to plan their wedding than Zayn's best friend, Lauren Jauregui? Lauren's not looking forward to marriage herself and has a busy life, but then she meets Normani.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EllieCee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieCee/gifts).



> This started out as a way for me and my friend Dri to make our friend Ellie feel better because she'd been having a lot of anxiety problems when it started, but it quickly turned into an amazing experience for both of us and I hope you all love it (especially Ellie). Neither of us know any of the members of One Direction or Fifth Harmony (unless you count those 5H M&Gs we went to). This is all purely fictional. 
> 
> Based on this prompt I saw on tumblr: Wedding Planner AU- Person A is a wedding planner who really isn’t looking forward to marriage, has a busy life, but at one wedding the bridesmaid/best man (Person B) who has been wanting to marry meets the wedding planner.

Lauren hears a knock on the door. She turns and looks at the time. 9:40 PM. What could whoever it is possibly want right now? She has so much to do to prepare her newest clients’ weddings. She still has to pick out the perfect venue for Korra and Asami, help Danielle pick out her wedding dress, help Anna with the wedding cake, and so much more. She’s exhausted, about to collapse.

After a few moments of not answering the door, she hears a voice from behind the door say “babe?” and looks up from her desk. Oh, it’s Zayn. Of course. “I know it’s late and all but can I come in?”

With a sigh, Lauren rises from her chair and walks over to the door. “Hi Zayn,” she says, opening it and letting him walk in.

“Hi Lauren,” Zayn responds, nearly tripping on the carpet. He follows her into the kitchen. It’s pretty small. There isn’t much more than a refrigerator, table, and stove to cook on. He takes a moment to look at the table. There are so many papers covering it he almost thinks the table’s made out of papers for a moment.

He’s trying not to stare at it for too long but Lauren must notice because she says, “A thing of beauty, isn’t it?” before laughing. She sits down on the chair closest to the refrigerator and motions for him to sit in the chair to her left. He sits down, still staring at all the papers. “Well don’t gawk too much,” Lauren says after a moment.

Zayn blinks and turns back to reality, turning to face her. “Sorry. I just don’t know how you handle all this stuff. I can barely remember to pay my bills on time.”

“Yes, well, soon that weight will be slightly off your shoulders, won’t it?” she offers. At his confused look, she continues, “Since you’re getting married and all. You won’t have to be on your own with paying the bills anymore.” Zayn did kind of have a point though. Lauren loves her job, loves being able to help people with making their dream come true, even if she definitely doesn’t want to get married anytime soon. It’s nice to see the smiles on her clients’ faces when they say “I do” and see how happy they are with the work she does for them. At the same time though, sometimes the amount of paperwork isn’t very fun. Ever since she helped with Kanye and Kim’s wedding, her services had become more in demand from people. It pays the bills though, she tells herself. “So what’s up?”

Zayn shrugs. “I don’t know. Just wanted to come say hi.”

Lauren starts laughing. “Pfft, at 9:40 at night? I know you Zayn. Usually by this time you’re fast asleep, unless you and Niall are out partying or something.”

He smiles, and she can see a tiny bit of a blush forming on his cheeks. “Well… umm… I was kind of wondering if you could be there on the day of. Like, come to the actual ceremony instead of just staying inside during it.”

“Why?” she asks. He knows she’s never been the type to actually see the weddings off, she just does all the behind the scenes stuff and signs out when the actual wedding starts. They’ve been friends for so long, he has to know this simple fact. Unless… “Oh my gosh. Is this another hook-up?” When he doesn’t respond after a few moments, she gets angrier. “It _is_ , isn’t it? Oh my gosh. What is it with you guys? Why can’t you just accept the fact that I don’t want to get married anytime soon? Why is it so insulting to you?”

“Lauren… babe…”

“Jeez. First you all try to get me with my roommate Dinah and now you’re trying to hook me up in the middle of your wedding?” She’s hyperventilating. She can’t believe this.

“Lauren…” he says, trying to calm her down. “Babe, look at me.” She turns to face him, still obviously really angry. “Listen, Niall just wants you to meet our friend. We’re not trying to hook you up, we just think you’d like her-” she glares “-as a friend. And besides, you and I have been friends for years. Why wouldn’t I want you to come to my wedding?”

Lauren sighs, but realizes he’s probably right. What does she have to lose? “Fine. I’ll go to your wedding, but you owe me big time for this.”

“Cheesecake Factory on Tuesday?” he asks with a wink.

She laughs. “Sounds good.”


	2. Chapter 2

Normani loves lunch hour. Not that she herself gets to sit down and relax, but business booms during that period. She owns one of the hottest cafes in the heart of the busy city and this time of day she’s never disappointed. People rush over for their coffee and pastries and Normani’s happy to supply them.

Being a young small business owner definitely has its perks and its downfalls. Like right now out of the corner of her eye Normani sees trouble brewing, get it? Anyway, she’s watching a customer fuming over something and yelling at her red faced employee. Now Normani admits that Camila screws up sometimes but it’s generally never anything too serious so she’s sure the customer is overreacting. She finishes putting all the scones in their tray and walks over to break it up.

“I said I wanted light cream and sugar! Are you an idiot?” The guy screams, making Camila look like a kicked puppy.

“Hey, what’s the problem?” Normani asks getting in between the two. Camila gives her a grateful look and steps aside.

“This genius over here” he starts pointing at Camila and Normani stops him.

“Her name is Camila.”

“Excuse me?” Now he’s even more pissed.

“Her name is Camila. Just letting you know so you can say that instead of calling her a genius sarcastically. She actually is very intelligent but I digress… go on.” She motions for him to continue.

He’s livid. You can almost see the veins popping out of his neck and it’s taking everything in Normani not to laugh in his face.

“I wanna talk to your manager, now!” He actually slams his hand down on the counter this time and Normani rolls her eyes. She loves this place, she really does but some people make customer service really difficult.

“Well you’re in luck because you’re talking to the owner.”

His face falls and he begins to sputter on his words. Normani knew what type of person he was before now but this confirms it. He’s one of those “No way this black woman owns her own business” type of people. It’s sad but Normani runs into at least two people like this every week.  


“Look sir, I’m very busy and I’m going to assume you are too. So let’s end all this right now. Take your coffee and just go and maybe I won’t ban you from my shop for life, okay?”

“Ban me all you want, little girl. Your coffee is shit anyway.” He tosses the cup in the trash and makes a beeline for the exit.

“Yeah that’s really nice sir. You have a great day!” Normani yells at his retreating back sarcastically and flips him off for good measure.

Another day, another asshole but it’s nothing new. She looks around and doesn’t see Camila anywhere so she assumes that she’s taking a much needed break after all that drama. She’s just about to walk to the back and get more pastries when she hears a familiar voice, “Geez, the life of a young entrepreneur is hard!”

She whips around so fast and beams a huge smile at her longtime friend, Niall. They’ve been friends since freshman year of college and thanks to life, her business, and his upcoming nuptials, they don’t get to see each other as often as they’d like.

“Niall!” She’s around the counter and hugging him in record time. They hug for a while and some customers smile at them. “Hey, let’s catch up! What do you want to drink?” she asks, heading back behind the counter.

“I’ll take the usual.” He says removing his jacket and making his way over to his favorite table in her shop. Normani laughs because in all the years she’s known him he doesn’t change a bit. He’s consistent and Normani admires that.

“Coming right up,” she says starting to make his vanilla macchiato and one for herself as well. Camila comes back out to the front and Normani gives her a look of concern but she smiles back.

“You okay?” she asks the girl and she nods. Camila is fairly new and from what Normani has been able to see pretty emotional. She hopes she gets thicker skin when it comes to dealing with asshole customers because she’d really hate to lose her as an employee. Camila has been a customer favorite so far. Especially with the young crowd, they find her “relatable” and Normani can attest to that because there has been time when she’s needed to talk and Camila was there. All in all Camila is important to the shop and she won’t let some jerk crying over coffee run her out.

“Yeah, I’m okay. A little disappointed in the human race but that’s retail, right?” She says with a little chuckle and a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, yet.

“That’s the spirit!” Normani says and Camila genuinely laughs this time. “Hey, I’m gonna take a quick break and catch up with my friend over there,” she points over to where Niall is sitting on his phone texting like there’s no tomorrow, “Can you finish stocking the pastries for me?”

“You got it, boss.” Camila says and Normani mouths a quick thank you and grabs the cups for her and Niall.

When she reaches his table he’s now talking on the phone and she can tell by the look on his face he’s talking to his fiancé, Zayn. Zayn and Niall are so cute. Normani has always been a romantic and watching her best friend fall so deeply in love and now getting married makes her heart hurt but in a good way. She’s also thinking it may be time to start looking for someone for herself. But it’s hard to find a great woman in this city, believe it or not.

“I don’t want her to yell at me.” Niall says into his phone and listens to what the person on the other line says for a bit, “Yeah I know but last time-” he listens again. “Okay fine, I’ll tell her…. I love you too. Bye”

He hangs up the phone and beams at Normani and she knows something’s up.

“Tell who what?” She asks before taking a sip of her drink.

“That who would be you and a few things are the what actually,” He reaches for his drink and takes a sip, sighing in appreciation.

“Spill it, Horan.”

“Well, you’re my best friend right?” He says looking at her nervously with his big blue eyes.

“I’d better be or you owe me a lot of money for all this free coffee, buddy.”

They laugh for a bit and Niall gets all fidgety again, “I was hoping you’d want to be my _best maid of honor_.”

“I’d love to! But what about your brother? This isn’t how it’s supposed to go Niall.”

“Well Normani, it’s a gay wedding. I think all the rules have been broken anyway so why stop now.”

“That’s true,” she agrees, “but why would I be mad about that? From what you were saying on the phone I thought you were going to tell me something horrible.”

“Oh yeah that part,” He reaches a hand back and starts to scratch his head. One of his nervous habits and Normani begins to brace herself for the unpleasant part, “Um… Zayn and I- no actually just Zayn may have set you up with a date for the wedding.”

“A DATE!” Normani yells and few customers turn to look at them so she lowers her voice and whisper yells, “No! On so many levels no!”

“Why not?” Niall is pouting now and Normani doesn’t care, “From what I can see you aren’t exactly beating them away with a stick right now. When was the last time you went on a date?”

“I’ll tell you when, the last time was when you set me up with the girl from your office,” Normani watches as the realization dawns over Niall’s face. “Yeah, you remember Ally.”

“Vaguely,” He lies while sipping his coffee. Normani knows damn well he sees her every day at work. “And anyway there was nothing wrong with her. She was a total catch.”

“She was gorgeous but she wouldn’t stop talking. I couldn’t get a word in and then I suggested we go to the movies thinking I’d get some relief there but no, she whispered the entire time.”

“That was probably nervous chatter. But whatever, this is different. Zayn is the mastermind behind this.”

“No more set ups. I don’t care if you get the million dollar matchmaker lady to intervene, I don’t want to be set up.” She says trying to keep her voice firm so Niall knows she’s serious. “And besides how do you know I wasn’t planning on bringing someone?”

Niall looks her dead in the eye, “Dude, I know you. If you were involved with someone that you deemed serious enough to bring to my wedding you would have been talking about them and nothing would make you shut up. I know when you’re dating someone.”

Normani sighs, she hates when he’s right. Niall has been there for Normani and seen her at so many points in life that he could look at her and tell if she even has a crush on someone. There’s no denying that he’s right.

“Fine,” she says defeated “What’s she like?”

Niall perks up immediately, obviously pleased with himself for having worn her down.

“She’s a very good friend of Zayn’s and our wedding planner actually.”

“Your wedding planner, huh?” Normani has never dated a wedding planner before. Something about someone whose job it is to make other people’s dreams come true intrigues Normani a bit, “Well, this might be interesting.”


	3. Chapter 3

“WHAT?” Lauren yells into the phone. She can’t believe what Zayn’s just told her. A _date_ with this Normani chick? And to think, just a few nights ago he was trying to tell her it wasn’t a hook-up. “Malik, I agreed to meet her at your wedding. I did NOT agree to go on a date with her before the fact.”

“Babe…” Zayn tries. “Look, can you please just do this once for me?” He always does that. He knows that she can’t resist the ‘for me’ pleads from her best friend. She isn’t going to give in so quickly this time though.

“That’s not gonna work this time, boy.” Lauren replies persistently.

Zayn sighs. “Fine, what do I have to do to make you do this?" 

Lauren considers this for a moment. She searches for something that will really break him. “Hmm… Okay, if I do this I don’t have to be seen during the wedding.”

“WHAT?” Now Zayn’s the one yelling. “Lauren, are you serious? You’re my best friend. You can’t just not come to my wedding.”

“Yeah, that’s what Kim and Kanye said to Jay Z and Beyoncé a while ago,” Lauren offers. “If she’s as awesome a person as you and Niall are saying she is, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, should you? Because she’ll be nice enough that I won’t be able to resist seeing her again. Or was that all just talk?”

“Fine,” Zayn says reluctantly, not understanding why his best friend is treating him this way. Then again, he thinks, she probably feels the same way about him right now. “Tomorrow, 7:00, at Cheesecake Factory. Meet up with me and Niall at our house and we’ll take you.”

“See you all then,” Lauren says, satisfied she’s the one winning for once.

“Bye. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.” She hangs up the phone and collapses onto the nearest couch. She sighs. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.

Dinah walks into the room all of a sudden, giggling at the sight of Lauren sprawled across the couch. It’s always slightly surprising for Lauren when she sees her roommate. Even though they live together their jobs take so much out of them they rarely see each other. “Let me guess, Zayn called again.”

Lauren nods reluctantly, putting her head up on one of the pillows. “He wants me to go on a double date with him and Niall so I can meet this Normani chick.” It’s not like it’s gonna be the end of the world, she reminds herself. She does love the Cheesecake Factory. She was just hoping it would just be her and him going as friends though, not as a way to set her up with someone.

“I thought you were supposed to meet her at the wedding,” Dinah asks. Lauren scooches over so that Dinah can sit next to her.

“I was but those two are obviously so obsessed with the idea of us being ‘friends’,” she puts her fingers in air quotes “that they want me to meet her tomorrow instead.”

Dinah breathes in, “Okay.” She stands up and puts out her hand. Upon Lauren’s questioning look, she says, “Well come on. If you’re gonna be going on a date tomorrow you should have something good to wear. Come on, I’ve got my wallet in my car, let’s go.”

“But I still have so much work to-”

“As do I. Come on, we’ve been working all day and we never do anything fun together anymore. Besides I need some new boots. Let’s go.”

Lauren sighs but finally grabs Dinah’s hand and stands up. Somehow Dinah always has a way with words. “You look really great in that skirt by the way.”

“I know right?” Dinah says, leading them out the front door.

Lauren giggles. She’s always loved Dinah’s self-confidence, it’s one of her best qualities for sure. She wonders if she’ll ever find the amount of self-confidence Dinah has one day.

***

Lauren shows up at exactly 7:00 wearing the red dress Dinah helped her pick out yesterday. After hugging and saying “hello”s to Niall and Zayn (who, despite themselves, looked pretty amazed when they first saw her entering), they drive off to the restaurant. When they’re seated, she settles down next to Zayn at the table. It’s obvious Zayn and Niall want to be sitting next to each other, but they also seem to agree mentally that Normani and her shouldn’t be sitting beside each other in case this turns ugly. The girls introduce themselves to each other and shake hands. As it turns out, Normani actually owns a café close by here. Tonight she’s put one of her other employees (Camille or something?) in charge though.

“So, Niall tells me you’re a wedding planner?” Normani asks, taking a sip of her drink. The waiter had passed out all their drinks and is waiting for them to look at the menu some more before asking for their orders. The boys both got wine, but Normani just got water because she doesn’t want to end up intoxicated for the rest of the evening.

Lauren eyes Niall for a moment, wondering how much he told her, but from his expression, she doesn’t think he told her much more than that. “Umm… yeah. I’ve been doing it for a few years now. It can get stressful at times, but I like being able to help people achieve their dreams.”

Normani nods. “That’s so cool. I’d love to have a job like that, even though I love my current job a lot.”

“Yeah,” Lauren says, carefully drinking her hot chocolate. It’s too late in the day for her to be drinking coffee, and she’s not really in the mood for alcohol right now. “It’s really nice knowing I can help people achieve their dreams, even if I don’t want to get married myself.” Zayn slightly kicks her, and she looks at him for a moment with a ‘what was that for?’ face. No one else seems to notice though.

“You don’t wanna get married?” Normani asks, a hint of surprise in her voice. _Oh great,_ Lauren thinks to herself. _She’s one of those people._ Lauren’s always hated the “how can you not want to get married?” crowd. Marriage isn’t the only way to be happy, she constantly has to tell them, and she is happy with her life just the way it is.

“No,” she responds.

Before she can continue though, the waiter comes over again. “Hey guys. Ready to order?”

“Sure,” they all say, calling out what they want.

Zayn does what he usually does at most restaurants and goes straight for dessert. Niall, after teasing him about it for a moment, orders the fried macaroni and cheese. “I already had a big snack before coming here,” he explains. “Trying to keep it simple.” Of course he had a big snack. Lauren feels like every time she visits them, he’s eating something. She follows Zayn’s lead and orders some tiramisu, nothing else on the menu really interesting her tonight. Normani orders a luau salad with some french fries on the side. Unusual combination, Lauren thinks, but doesn’t say anything.

“Thanks,” Normani says after she makes sure the waiter has all their orders. “So,” she turns back to face Lauren. “How long have you known these two?”

Lauren bites her lip, trying not to laugh. It’s always so amazing to her when she realizes how long she and Zayn have truly known each other. “Well, I’ve known this guy,” she motions to him “since like middle school.” She notices him smiling a little wider than usual and starts smiling herself. “And I guess I’ve known Niall since the two of them started dating.” Niall giggles. “What about you?”

“Wow,” Normani responds. “I don’t think I even remember who went to middle school with me anymore.” She laughs. “Well, Niall and I have known each other since college, and I met Zayn a few months after they got together.” She turns into a near-whisper for a moment. “He was afraid to tell me.”

“I was afraid to tell anybody!” Niall protests, but he breaks into a laugh despite himself.

“Yeah,” Zayn confirms. “Thankfully we’re past that little phase now though.” He winks when he thinks Niall looks like he’s about to protest again.

Throughout the night, they talk about many things. Normani asks Lauren about what she has planned for the wedding, Lauren answers but tries not to give too much away. Zayn and Niall talk a little bit about what they’ll be planning to do for their honeymoon and for the weeks after the wedding. Niall says he plans to take Zayn’s name. “I had this dream a few nights ago where I was being interviewed, but the interviewer accidentally put ‘Niall Malik’ instead of ‘Niall Horan’, and I was like ‘that’s gotta be a sign’.” Zayn laughs and grabs his hand from across the table.

Despite trying her best to hate Normani and not let Zayn win, Lauren has to admit that Normani’s actually a really nice person. She hopes it doesn’t show, but she actually can’t wait until it’s time for the wedding so she can see her again.

All of a sudden, Normani’s phone rings. “Hello?” Normani says. Her face changes from smile to a concerned expression. “Camila? Are you alright? Okay, okay. I’ll be right there.” She stands up, putting her phone back in her purse.

She turns to face the boys and Lauren and smiles apologetically. “I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go now. Camila says something’s gone wrong at the café. It was great to meet you though Lauren. Can’t wait to see you again in a few days.”

Niall waves off her apology. “Do what you’ve gotta do, babe. Thanks for coming with us.” He gives her a quick final hug and then all of them wave goodbye.

“Bye,” Lauren says, barely audible. Niall leads the three of them outside. He must’ve drank like five glasses of wine, but he seems as sturdy as ever. Lauren’s always been impressed by his tolerance level.

Zayn, on the other hand, is stumbling and giggling every which way. Lauren and Niall have to help get him in the car. “T-that wwass so amazin,” he stutters when they finally get him seated and buckled.

“It sure was, buddy,” Niall says, opening the front door to the right and motioning for Lauren to get in.

“Oh no, no, no,” she protests. “I don’t care how good your tolerance levels are, you’ve still had far too much alcohol to drink. I’ll drive.”

“How the heck are you s’posed to get home then?” Niall questions, attempting once again to let her in the shot gun seat.

“I’ll text Dinah and let her know that I’m staying over at you guys’ house tonight. It’s not like it’s the end of the world, I used to do it all the time.”

“Yeah, but that was before you had an actual job yet.” With one final eyebrow raise from her though, he gets in the shotgun seat.

As Lauren puts the keys in Niall’s ignition and buckles her seat belt, she finds her thoughts trailing back to Normani and her beautiful face and kissable cheeks… _Wait, what?_ She tries to stop herself from thinking things like that. She’s not supposed to be getting attached to anyone right now, with all the stuff she has going on in her life already. So why is it she doesn’t stop thinking about her until she finally falls asleep that night on Zayn and Niall’s living room couch?


	4. Chapter 4

Keys: Check! Purse: check! That’s everything and Normani is out the door and on her way to Zayn and Niall’s wedding. She gets into her car and puts the keys in the ignition when she realizes that she’s forgetting something… HER DRESS! How does the best maid of honor forget her dress? She runs back in the house and gets the beautiful gown that Niall himself picked for her. She usually doesn’t let men choose clothes for her but she must admit that Niall is pretty stylish, being with Zayn did that to him. 

It’s still so surreal to Normani that she’s going to be watching her best friend get married today. It seems like just yesterday Normani was trying to pry information from Niall about the mystery guy he was hanging out with and now this is their wedding day. Where does the time go? 

Normani’s thoughts are interrupted by a song on the radio, a Paramore song. She remembers Lauren likes Paramore and tries to shake the thoughts of the green eyed woman from her mind. It’s hard though because as much as she hates to admit that Niall and Zayn’s hook up had positive results, she really does like Lauren, a lot. 

Ever since that first date they’ve kept in touch with texting each other and Lauren has even stopped by her café a few times “on her way to her office”, which Normani knows is bullshit because Lauren is actually going well out of her way. But Normani doesn’t mention it. Lauren comes to the café and Normani makes her French vanilla coffee with cream and sugar and a double shot of espresso with a blueberry muffin on the side. She always refuses when Lauren tries to pay for it and that earns her many sly smirks from Camila.

Okay so maybe she likes Lauren a lot more than she expected, but today is not about her and Lauren. It’s about Niall and Zayn, so she tries her best to tone down her excitement of seeing Lauren. She can’t quite suppress the small smile that creeps across her features though. It’s going to be a long day. 

***

“Oh my God, I’m sweating buckets!” is the first thing Normani hears when she walks into the room where Niall is getting ready. Everyone is bustling around him and the poor guy looks like he’s about to have a panic attack. Normani clears her throat upon her arrival and Niall perks up a bit when he sees her.

“You’re here!” He exclaims, jumping up to give her a hug. 

“Well, duh! I’m the best maid of honor, aren’t I?” she laughs while returning the hug, “What’s wrong? Why are you so fidgety?”

Niall groans and has a seat. 

“The band Zayn wanted called to say that traffic is ‘hellacious’, their word not mine, and they don’t know if they’ll make it on time. And on top of that the caterer got the number of requests for chicken and fish mixed up so a lot of people are gonna end up with food they didn’t order. This is not how I wanted to start my life with Zayn.” He puts his head in his hand and Normani sees his shoulders drop. 

She feels so bad for her friend but he needs to pull it together. 

“Breathe Niall, you’re making yourself all red,” she sits down beside him and takes his hands in hers, “Do you love Zayn?”

Niall sputters in bewilderment, “Do I love Zayn?! What type of question is that to ask on the day that I’m marrying him? Of course I love him!” 

“Because if you love him it doesn’t matter if the music is coming from an iPod hooked up to a speaker and your guests eat pizza during the reception. As long as you’re marrying the person you love everything is perfect.” 

Niall visibly calms down after that, “You’re right. Everything is going to be perfect.” 

He stands and gives Normani a strong firm hug, “Thank you for everything.” 

“It’s no problem. As my best friend I expect you to also be there to pull me down from the ledge on my wedding day.” She says and they share a laugh. 

“Wedding day, huh? Not if you keep up whatever it is that you have with Ms. Jauregui.” Niall wags his eyebrows at her and she pinches him. 

“First off, no one said anything about Lauren and second- things change.”

“I’m just saying she’s set on the whole ‘no marriage’ thing.” 

Normani knows that. She tells herself that it’s silly to be upset about Lauren’s stance on marriage since they haven’t even discussed whether or not they’re dating, but she can’t help the feeling she gets in the pit of her stomach when it’s brought up… disappointment. 

“Whatever,” she tries to change the subject “Is the person doing make up here yet?”

“Yeah she’s down the hall. Go on down because she should be ready for you.” Niall waves her out the door, “Oh and Lauren’s here too, just in case you were wondering” He stifles a laugh. 

“I wasn’t.” and Normani is out the door. 

***

After spending 32 minutes in the make-up chair, Normani counts, she must say that every minute was worth it. Very natural looking but enough that her face doesn’t look naked. Normani loves it. Now time to get the dress on. 

Just as she’s walking down the hall she crashes into a solid form, a person. Lauren to be exact. Both women laugh at their collision and collect themselves. 

“Hey,” Lauren says a bit awkwardly and Normani finds it endearing. It reminds her of bumping into a crush in the hallway in high school. 

“Hey” Normani responds, wondering if it would be okay to reach out and pull Lauren into a hug. She decides to save that for later, “What I could see of the wedding so far looks fantastic. You did a great job.”

“Thanks! You look fantastic.” Normani blushes at that comment. 

“It’s make-up. The artist they hired is pretty awesome.” 

“No stop that,” Lauren chuckles “If I wanted to compliment the make-up I would have. I’m complimenting you because you’re gorgeous. Okay?”

Normani lets out a little laugh, “Okay.”

They have a moment where they just kind of look at each other. Normani has so much on her mind and 99% of it revolves around Lauren and the status of their relationship. She wants to ask but what comes out is-

“Niall is freaking the hell out.” 

Lauren laughs out loud and Normani remembers why she loves to make Lauren laugh. She’s so carefree when she just lets go and cracks up. 

“Well babe, it’s a wedding. If he weren’t freaking out then I’d be concerned.” Lauren’s phones buzzes and she fishes it out of her pocket and reads a message. Her face lights up a bit and she beams at Normani.

“The band is here. But don’t tell him that. It’ll be a nice surprise when he realize there’s live music and not a DJ.”

“You’re so sneaky…” Normani playfully wags her finger in Lauren’s face and the other woman swats it away. 

“Go get dressed so we can get this show on the road” Lauren says. She starts walking down the hall, high heels clicking to the beat of her stride. 

Normani thinks that she might be more than a little smitten with the green eyed beauty. This is going to be a hell of a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some research on Muslim wedding traditions when writing this, but I don’t claim to be an expert on the topic of Muslim/mixed Religion weddings because I don’t have a religion as of now, so if I messed anything up please let me know in the comments (also, I did read that music isn’t allowed in Muslim weddings, but like I said this isn’t solely a Muslim wedding either, it’s of mixed faith, but yeah. Please let me know if there’s anything else I messed up). The translation for what Zayn and Niall say to each other is here: http://www.al-islam.org/islamic-marriage-syed-athar-husain-sh-rizvi/components-ideal-islamic-marriage

Lauren looks over her shoulder, making sure she’s put enough distance between herself and Normani. The hallway she’s in seems deserted, so she sighs lovingly and sits down in front of a random door, reliving her and Normani’s awkward bump-in from just a few moments ago. The days since the double date have been absolutely heavenly. The two girls have been texting a ton and Lauren’s been sneaking off to go to Normani’s café a lot just so she can see her. Lauren’s never been really afraid of Dinah knowing what she’s doing and where she’s going because both of them are always so busy, but lately she keeps worrying that Dinah’s going to find out about Normani, jump to the wrong (or right, but she doesn’t want to entertain that idea) conclusions, and tease her into the next century. Zayn and Niall were right. Lauren does like Normani a lot. She’s not sure it’s just platonically, but she’s choosing to live in her world of denial because she doesn’t want to date anyone right now, and she sure as heck doesn’t want Zayn to win this one.

Just as she’s thinking about all this, she feels something hard on her back. She thinks it’s all her imagination, but then she feels herself being moved to the side by the door that was originally behind her. She shrieks slightly, surprised. She thought nobody else was here.

Zayn appears, humming to some music on his iPod. He stops shortly after though, apparently hearing Lauren’s shriek, and turns around, taking out his earbuds. “Oh hi Lauren. Sorry, didn’t realize anyone else was here.”

“Yeah, neither did I,” she responds, attempting to regain control of her legs and stand up. It’s so much harder to do this in high heels.

“Hold on, let me help.” Zayn rushes over and puts his hands around her arms, holding her a little longer to make sure she’s steady, then carefully letting go.

“Thanks.” She takes a moment to really look at him. She’s not used to seeing him so dressed up. His hair is up in a ponytail, his face looks fresh and clean, and he’s wearing a beautiful sherwani that his dad helped him pick out.

“No problem. I thought you weren’t going to show up at first. Didn’t you say something like ‘nice try but that Normani chick’s nothing to brag about’?” It’s obvious in his tone that he doesn’t believe what she said to him when she stayed over at his and Niall’s house after the double date.

“Yeah, well, I had to be sure you and Niall didn’t mess anything up.” She winks. “Besides, it’s like you said, why wouldn’t I want to go to my best friend’s wedding?”

Zayn stares at her with that gigantic smirk he always uses when he beats her at some annoying video game. “And you like Normani.”

Her heart starts beating quickly at those words. She hopes her cheeks don’t reveal any signs of blushing. “I do NOT.”

“You can’t lie to me Lauren. I’ve seen you at her café multiple times when you’re usually working.” Her expression must reveal the amount of confusion she feels because he continues with “You think you’re the only one who’s good at hiding babe?” he laughs. “I’ve been there most days since Niall took me the first time. Her coffees are really good, yeah? But I’m not surprised you didn’t see me of course. Too busy focusing on Normani.” He makes kissy noises at her.

She smacks his arm, to which he responds with laughter. “You’re the worst.”

“I know,” Zayn smiles, then looks at the time on his iPod. “Oh my gosh. We gotta get going. The caterer just said all the fish and chicken are ready to go. You should meet with them outside.”

Lauren shakes her head, smiling. “I still don’t understand why you tricked Niall into believing everything was in shambles. What kind of a fiancé are you?”

He smiles at her. “One of a kind. Now go, hurry before Niall can figure us out.”

She shakes her head and hugs him, giving him a little kiss on the cheek. After they’ve said ‘I love you’ to each other, she starts heading the other direction. “And I don’t love Normani!” she yells at him on her way out. She’s not sure why she decided to say that as her final words to Zayn before he’s a married man, but they’re out before she can stop them.

“Whatevs,” he yells back.

***

Lauren sits down next to Zayn’s parents. It’s been a while since she last saw them. It was kind of hard getting in touch with them when she was planning the guest list because they live so far away now. She eventually ended up giving up and calling Zayn. She looks around at the rest of the guests. There’s Ally from Niall’s office, who he wanted her to invite for who knows what reason. She really hopes she doesn’t end up talking through the whole wedding. Next to Ally are a few more people from Niall’s work place that Lauren can’t remember the name of anymore. She turns to the left to view who else showed up from Zayn’s list and one catches her view. Harry Styles. She had thought he wasn’t going to come because he and Zayn haven’t really talked much since college, she didn’t think.

She wants to keep looking around, but is interrupted by a voice next to her. “Hi.” It’s Zayn’s mom, Trisha. Lauren turns back to face her and smiles.

“Hey,” she says in return. “I’m glad you two could come.”

Trisha looks taken aback. “We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Lauren smiles even wider at that comment. She’s always loved Zayn’s parents, and the way they talk to/about him. She’s pretty sure his parents have to be some of the best parents in the universe. “How has your business been going?” The last time Lauren saw Zayn’s parents, Trisha was moving up from being a school cook and starting her own food business.

“It’s been going surprisingly well,” Trisha nods. “Actually, we just found out that someone else wants to put our restaurant in the States (with our permission of course). We may be on our way to becoming a chain restaurant at this rate.”

“That’s fantastic,” Lauren says, hugging her tightly. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you,” Trisha responds, hugging her back. When they pull away from each other, there’s a brief moment of silence before she says “I’m really thankful for all the work you’ve done for my son’s wedding. I really can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for him and Niall.” She looks like she’s about to cry.

Lauren thinks she even sees a small tear fall down her face, but doesn’t mention it. “Aww… it’s what I do. And it’s definitely a huge honor that I got to do it for my best friend.” The two women smile at each other. Before either of them can say anything else to the other though, everyone in the room goes quiet and they turn their eyes to the front.

From the side door, they see a priest entering, followed by Normani (Lauren tries not to stare at her for too long, but she can’t help it; the girl’s gorgeous), Niall in his gorgeous tux, and Zayn.

When the four of them are ready, the priest says a short speech in Arabic. Lauren has no idea what’s being said, but follows Zayn’s parents’ lead and bows her head out of respect. Once it seems to be over, she raises her head again and sees the biggest smile across Zayn’s face.

He says to Niall, “An Kah’tu nafsaka a’lal mah’ril ma’loom”.

“Qabiltun Nikaha,” Niall responds. Lauren recognizes this phrase because she’s heard them practicing it over and over again to make sure he got it right for the wedding.

Zayn’s side of the room applauds first. It takes Niall’s side of the room a few moments to realize they’re supposed to clap as well.

After a moment, the priest clears their throat. “As per request of the couple, I have been asked to also do the Christian version of the wedding vows.” The priest opens a book on a stand in front of them, clearly more experienced with the Muslim version than the Christian version. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two men…”

Despite trying her best to pay attention, Lauren can’t help but look over at Normani and think about how beautiful her figure is. She looks so gorgeous in the dress Niall picked out for her, and despite what she said to Lauren earlier, she doubts it’s just the make-up that makes her face look so flawless. Lauren fights mentally to remove the image of having Normani’s lips against hers when they’re up there one day. _No,_ she tells herself. _You are not ever getting married to Normani. Or anybody. You’re fine with your life the way it is._

She watches as Normani hands Niall and Zayn their rings and the two boys say their vows to each other. She feels so guilty because right now her best friend is getting married, and all she can think about is a woman who she just met several days ago. She sighs and pulls herself back to reality.

“I now pronounce you husband and husband,” the priest says. “You may kiss the groom.”

Zayn and Niall kiss each other really hard and Lauren almost sobs at the sight. Her best friend is officially married to the guy of his dreams. Seeing how happy they are is enough to make her heart burst. Everybody around her starts clapping, with the parents and siblings tearing up. She thinks she sees a bit of a tear coming down on Normani’s cheek as well. She turns around, eyes trying to hold back tears and failing, and sees Harry wearing a face similar to what she assumes her own face looks like.

After the two boys are finally done kissing, they embrace for a few more seconds, then let go. The audience holds on for a beat longer, but then everybody gets up and gets ready to head to the reception.


	6. Chapter 6

Normani dings her fork against her glass three times and that is enough to get the attention of everyone in the reception. This is it. She takes a big gulp of air and stands to address all of Niall and Zayn's family and friends.

All eyes are on her.

"Hey everyone," she starts off with a nervous giggle that is returned by a few in attendance, "Where do I begin?"

She turns and looks at Niall. Her best friend sitting next to his gorgeous new husband, in a beautifully tailored suit, blue eyes shining more than ever.

"I'll start with when I met Niall. I was in my freshman year of college and I was nervous as fu-" she remembers that Niall's parents are there, "heck. I was nervous as heck. And I was going be late to my very first class. Two seconds before I could have a nervous breakdown this kid comes and asks me what class I was looking for. I told him and he said that he too was looking for that same class. I felt better immediately, we were going to find it together."

She pauses for a beat.

"Needless to say we never found the class" the room laughs, "we ended up going out to eat a gigantic breakfast and hoping for better results next time. That day will go down in my memory as one of the best days of my life. That was the day I gained more than a friend, I gained a brother. And today I gained another, Zayn. You two are the most beautiful couple that I have ever seen and I'm honored to be able to witness such a love up close. It's inspiring."

At that moment everything in her is screaming not to look at Lauren but she does anyway because she apparently hates herself.

"I love you both so much and thank you for choosing me to be your Best Maid of Honor. A title that is as fulfilling as it is strange." She picks up her glass to toast and so does everyone else in the room, "here's to your first day of marriage and many many many more to come!"

The room erupts in a shout of cheers and everyone drinks and the happy couple steals a kiss. When Normani sits back down Niall hugs her and he and Zayn tell her what a wonderful job she did.

Now that job is over time to drink and let loose.

***

Three drinks later and the band that Niall and Zayn hired sounds better than ever. She’s sitting in her seat bopping to the music and swaying side to side. She looks across the room at the happy couple dancing. Actually dancing isn’t quite the word, Niall is wiggling shoulders and going around Zayn in a circle while the other man stood just side steps awkwardly. Normani can’t help but laugh around her straw, she definitely should have suggested couples’ dance lessons before the wedding.

“So what happened to the girl that bragged about her amazing dance skills a week ago?” Normani looks over her shoulder and sees Lauren approaching.

The other woman looks a little “less official” than when Normani had saw her earlier. She’s taken the ear piece off that made her look like she was in the secret service, unbuttoned the first few buttons on her blouse and let her hair down. Normani always thought she looked better with her hair down.

“That girl doesn’t have anyone to dance with.” Normani says taking another sip of her long island iced tea.

Lauren puts her hand out and Normani looks at it, “So are you going to sit there and admire my manicure or do you actually want to come cut a rug?”

“You did not just say-”

“I did but let’s never speak of it again.”

Normani puts her hand in Lauren’s and the other woman leads her to the middle of the floor. They dance around each other laughing, occasionally breaking out lame moves from yesteryear and pretending to challenge each other. Suddenly the song changes to slow one and all the couples move closer to each other. All except Normani and Lauren, which Normani thinks is fair because she isn’t sure if they’re a couple or not. They stand awkwardly for a few seconds before Lauren pulls Normani into an embrace and starts to sway.

“You smell really nice.” Normani says, putting her face in Lauren’s neck. She feels the vibration of Lauren’s laughter before she actually hears it and for some reason that makes her giggle.

“Okay Ms. Hamilton, no more tea from long island for you.” Lauren says spinning the babbling woman in her arms around once.

Normani looks up and over across the room and she sees Niall staring at her over Zayn’s shoulder, obviously he was waiting for her to acknowledge him and when she does he gives her a thumbs up. She flips him off in return and focuses on Lauren again.

***

“Why so fancy?” Camila asks when Normani walks through the door of her café. Now Normani will admit that she doesn’t usually wear heels into work but she’s still annoyed that Camila noticed and called her out on it.

“I can’t come into my place of business looking nice?” She asks in return and Camila puts her hands up in mock surrender, “Besides I’m not working. I came to grab something from my office and then I’m meeting Lauren.”

“Aha, I should have known it was something involving the girlfriend.” She makes a kissy face and if she didn’t need to sell the croissants in front of her, Normani would throw them at Camila’s face.

“She is NOT my girlfriend.”

Camila looks at her skeptically for a bit then go back to making the kissy face. Normani wonders if Camila likes her job.

“Besides shouldn’t you be a little less concerned with my love life but more with yours and boy toy that comes in to listen to your terrible jokes.” Normani retaliates and Camila immediately stops and becomes silent, “Oh is he not to be mentioned?”

“I’d rather not discuss Austin.” With that Camila scurries to the back of the shop.

“Oh now I know his name. It’s on!” Normani yells after her, teasing. She hears her scream “Oh my god!”

***

Normani steps out of her car in front of the fanciest place she’s ever seen in all her life. She suddenly feels that even though she is wearing a dress and heels she’s incredibly underdressed. She looks around for Lauren and sees no sign of her so she pulls out her phone to text her.

_Hey I’m here. Where are you?_

Immediately she gets a response back.

_Awesome! I’ll be right out to get you._

Lauren walks out in a stunning red dress that touches the ground. Normani swears that she salivates at the sight. She’s nothing short of absolutely gorgeous. Lauren walks over and they embrace. Lauren leans in and Normani turns her face and Lauren catches her cheek.

They’ve kissed and even made out plenty of times but Normani isn’t sure if they’re at the level of doing that on the sidewalk yet. They still haven’t had that pesky “define the relationship” conversation. Lauren doesn’t seem put off by the cheek kiss so Normani assumes that she doesn’t mind. She just grabs Normani’s hand and leads her inside the banquet hall.

When Lauren called Normani and asked her to escort her to a charity event she expected something a bit smaller. That they’d be bidding on pieces of art painted by struggling artists or something, but as she looks around it looks like they’re bidding on yachts and things. Normani knew that Lauren made a decent living but come on.

“So the wedding planning business is ridiculously lucrative I see.” Normani says once they have their drinks and are settled in their seats, waiting for the auction to begin.

“The _celebrity_ wedding planning business is,” Lauren says “They’re always trying to one up each other. The more outrageous we can make the day the more we get paid. It’s all about those headlines.”

“You ever thought maybe that’s why you’re so jaded?” Normani asks and Lauren rolls her eyes a bit but Normani keeps going “Your perception of weddings and marriage is skewed Lo.”

“No, YOUR perception of it is skewed. A wedding is just a day and marriage is just a piece of paper. It doesn’t measure love. The only difference it makes is that when you want to leave someone you have to get a lawyer to do it.” Lauren says and Normani gets the feeling that she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore so she doesn’t push further. But she makes up her mind that they will address their relationship status soon. That can wait till after she watches incredibly rich people bid on items that they clearly don’t need though.


	7. Chapter 7

Lauren has been enjoying these last few days so much. Since Zayn and Niall have been on their honeymoon, she and Normani have been hanging out a lot, or at least as much as their jobs will allow. They had a rough start when Normani brought up Lauren’s “skewed view” of marriage. Thankfully neither of them have brought it up since then though. She’s glad. She doesn’t want their friendship to end over something so silly.

Suddenly, her phone rings in the tune of Partition by Beyoncé, the ringtone she set for Normani a little while ago. She smiles and answers it immediately. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Normani responds, sounding somewhat distant. “Umm… Do you wanna come over to my house today?”

“Sure,” Lauren replies, slightly concerned. “Is everything alright?”

It takes Normani a second to respond, which only makes her more worried. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine. Just an off day at work. Would like to have someone to watch movies with or something.”

Lauren doesn’t really believe that’s all it is, but she doesn’t push it. “Okay, give me a few minutes.”

“Kay. See you soon.” She hangs up before Lauren has a chance to say the same thing back. _That was… weird,_ Lauren thinks to herself, but she just shrugs it off. She goes up to her room and puts on a new dress with a flower pattern on it. She looks around her room for some good movies to bring. The two of them have watched The Princess and the Frog almost every time they’ve had a movie marathon, but they never seem to be able to get enough of it, so she decides to bring that one with her, along with Mean Girls since it’s hard to be too sad during that movie.

She goes downstairs, writes a note in case Dinah comes downstairs (although she doubts she will), and takes her movies, phone, and keys to the car. When Lauren pulls up to Normani’s driveway, she’s sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch reading a magazine. Lauren grabs her movies and gets out of the car. “Hi,” she says, running up to Normani.

“Hey,” Normani responds indifferently, not taking her eyes off the magazine.

An awkward moment of silence passes. “Umm… are we gonna go watch movies? I brought your favorite, The Princess and the Frog.”

Normani looks up and her face is slightly happier, but not by much. “Oh, sure, let’s go inside.”

The movie drags on longer than usual. Normani is on her phone almost the whole movie, which she never does when the two of them watch this movie together, or do anything together for that matter. Usually the two of them crack up at certain parts together, to the point where they’re laughing into each other’s laps a lot of times. This time though, they don’t laugh at all, and Lauren feels sad during all the parts they usually laugh at together.

When Tiana and Naveen kiss towards the end of the movie, Lauren moves in to kiss Normani like she usually does at this part, hoping that maybe a kiss will erase some of the awkwardness that’s in the air right now. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Actually, it only makes things even more awkward because Normani backs away from her right as she’s about to kiss her.

Lauren tries to collect herself and just focus on the remaining bits of the movie, but it’s hard to because Normani just denied her kiss. Why did she do that? She knows she said earlier she was stressed about the café, but why would that be a reason to deny her kiss? The next few minutes seem to lag on until finally the credits start and she gets up to eject the disc.

“Okay,” Lauren says after closing the DVD case. She walks over to Normani, takes her phone (which gets an angry “hey” response from her), and stands in front of her. “What’s going on?”

“Give me back my phone,” Normani demands, ignoring her question.

“Not until you answer me. What’s going on with you today?”

“Well, I _was_ watching movies with you.” Normani shrugs.

Lauren lets out a fake chuckle. “Don’t play that one with me. Why have you been acting so… distant and pulling away from my kiss and not talking to me and everything today?”

Now it’s Normani’s turn to let out a fake chuckle. “Why do you care?”

Lauren’s taken aback by this comment. Her face drops from angry to confused. After all the two of them have done with each other, how could Normani even find it in herself to ask a question like that? Why wouldn’t she care? “Because I love you, Normani. Why wouldn’t I care about the fact that you’re upset?”

“Oh really?” Normani asks, cutting into Lauren even more. “If you care so much about me, why can’t you even tell me what this is?”

Lauren steps back, surprised. “What do you mean?”

Normani sighs, stands up, and snatches her phone back out of Lauren’s hand. “Now it’s my turn to do the interrogating and ask all the questions.” Lauren could point out the fact that the definition of interrogate is to ask questions, but judging by the look on Normani’s face, she doesn’t think it’s the right time. Normani breathes in and out, shaking her head. If looks could kill, Lauren’s pretty sure she’d be dead right about now. “Listen, I love you and I think it’s obvious you love me too in some sort of way, but I can’t keep dealing with this. I can’t…” her voice breaks. “I can’t keep playing these games.” Lauren feels like her heart is gonna fall out of her chest. Is Normani cutting her off? Because she definitely can’t deal with that, especially not when her only other friends are either out of town on their honeymoon or always working in their room upstairs.

Normani breathes in, obviously trying to calm herself down, but it doesn’t work so well because her next words still come out as a near-yell. “What are we?” she says. When Lauren doesn’t respond immediately, she walks up to her and puts her hands on her shoulders, spitting out each word. “What are we?”


	8. Chapter 8

The room goes eerily silent once the last word leaves Normani’s mouth. There, she said it. The elephant in the room has a big bright light shining on it and Lauren can no longer ignore its presence. Normani watches for Lauren’s face to gauge her reaction. The woman looks a bit stunned, as if this is coming out of nowhere. Normani scoffs and releases her shoulders.

This all began over something really silly to be honest and Normani shouldn’t be this upset but she is and she can’t help it. It started today at work when Camila came in smiling from ear to ear. She was ecstatic to announce that she and Austin had made it official and they were a couple. Normani is happy for Camila, she really is. She just can’t help the way her stomach lurches when she thinks about the fact that she and Lauren have been a thing for a while longer and still have not defined it. She will probably be attending Camila and Austin’s wedding still hoping that Lauren will be her girlfriend. That’s a reach but still… this sucks ass.

“Why do we have to stick a label on everything? This is fun, we’re having fun.” Lauren says trying to lighten the mood but Normani isn’t having any of that.

“You’re having fun. I like you a lot Lauren but every day is a mystery. I wonder do you feel the same, are you using me for sex-“

“Using you for sex?! Normani you know me better than that! I love you!” Lauren exclaims.

Now Normani feels bad for even saying that. She knows Lauren cares for her but is it in the way that she wants?

“I know and I’m sorry for saying that. But I’m not sorry for wanting to know our relationship status. You’ve always known that I was looking for something serious.”

“You know that I’m not…” Lauren spits back and Normani groans in frustration.

“It’s not like I’m asking you to fucking marry me Lauren!” she screams, “All I want to know is are we girlfriends or not.”

“Not. I’m not ready for that.” Lauren looks down at her shoes with sad eyes.

Normani wants to comfort her the way she always does when Lauren gets that sad miserable look on her face but she has to stay strong. She wanted an answer and she got it.

“I think you should leave” Normani says flopping down on the couch.

“And I think you’re overreacting.” Lauren shoots back.

“That’s fine but can you think that on the other side of the door.”

Lauren opens her mouth as if she’s going to retort but closes it quickly. She snatches her jacket from the couch and marches out the door, making sure she slams it hard and loud.

Normani tries to focus on tv and not the tears that are threatening to spill down her cheeks. Did she just ruin everything?

***

“Hey calm down there, Boss!” Camila exclaims, taking a tray of coffee mugs out of Normani’s hands. Normani hadn’t even realized just how rough she was being while stacking the glass cup, “I’ll take those.”

Normani silently thanks her and moves behind the counter to busy herself with something else. She still has the conversation with Lauren yesterday on her mind. She has been dropping things and hostile with customers. And judging by the looks her employees (especially Camila) were giving her people were noticing.

Camila comes behind the counter to fill an order but Normani can feel the way she keeps looking at her out the corner of her eye.

“You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me, Camila.” Normani says.

“I’m sorry… It’s just I don’t think I’ve seen you this wound up before. Something you want to talk about?”

“No.”

“Well that’s fine. Maybe you’ll talk to Lauren. Isn’t it almost time for her to drop by?” Camila chuckles but her face falls when she sees that Normani isn’t smiling.

“Just don’t okay” Normani says sadly.

“Oh my… I didn’t realize you two had broken up. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t break up with someone you were never dating in the first place.”

Camila thinks for a bit and then her face lights up with an idea, “Well in that case you won’t mind meeting my friend, Demi.”

“What?”

“I met someone that I think would be perfect for you and I want you to meet her. Here’s a hint… she’s very cute and very lesbian.” Camila wags her eyebrows and Normani cracks a smile for what seems the first time in forever.

“I don’t know-“

“Why not? You’re unattached… and not even on the rebound, right?”

“Right…” because technically that is correct, “I just- I don’t think I should be doing the whole blind date thing again.”

“Fine. No date then. I’ll invite her to the café and you two can bump into each other.”

Normani knows this could end up blowing up in her face but at this moment she doesn’t care much. Maybe this is what she needs to get Lauren off her mind. She’d probably agree to anything right now to rid her thoughts of Lauren.

“Okay, how’s tomorrow?”

Camila claps her hands and does a little victory dance, “Perfect! She’ll be here.”

“Great. Now take that customer his order before we lose him please.” Normani points over Camila’s shoulder at the guy sitting at his table checking his watch repeatedly.

“Oh shoot!” Camila says as she dashes off with a hot latte in hand.

***

Demi is beautiful, charming, and has complimented Normani on everything under the sun but there’s just something off… it’s too easy. It’s not the back and forth witty banter she had with Lauren. Demi hasn’t disagreed with anything she’s said so far. With Lauren they’d debate about everything and just make out as a way of saying they agree to disagree.

Demi isn’t Lauren and as much as it pains Normani to admit it to herself that’s who she wants right now.

“Yeah so I shaved the side of my head. It’s been a bitch waiting for it to grow back.” Demi laughs and Normani does too in order to hide that fact that she wasn’t listening.

“Hey, do you need a refill?” She asks Demi when she notices that the other girl’s cup of coffee is empty.

“Uh yeah! You make the best coffee by the way!” Demi exclaims with a smile and Normani smiles back. Either Demi really does love everything about Normani or she desperately wants to get in her pants.

“Thanks, one more cup of joe coming right up.”

Camila is beaming as Normani walks towards her, obviously dying to hear all the juicy detail. Normani goes about her business pretending that Camila isn’t practically buzzing with excitement around her.

“So…? Do you love her or do you love her?” Camila asks.

“I just met her.”

“So! People fall in love in way less time than this.”

“I think you listen to too much Taylor Swift or something.” Normani says with a laugh and Camila actually nods in agreement.

Just then the door of the café opens and in walks Lauren. She’s wearing one of her giant oversized sweaters and jeans so Normani knows that she’s not coming from work. She left her apartment to come here for a reason. Feelings from two days ago that never truly left come crashing back to Normani all at once. Part of her wants to retreat into the kitchen but Lauren has already seen her so she doesn’t want it to look like she ran. Camila scurries away when Lauren comes to stand in front of Normani.

“Hi” Lauren says. Her voice sounds a little hoarse and it makes Normani wonder if she’s been crying.

“Hey” Normani says in return.

“Um… I think we should talk. I’ve done a lot of reflecting and-“

“Pardon me?” Demi taps Lauren’s shoulder and squeezes past her to get to Normani.

Lauren must assume that Demi is a customer because she steps aside for them to talk.

“I gotta go but I wanted you to know that I had an amazing time tonight and I look forward to spending time with you again. Give me a call, okay?” Demi then grabs Normani’s hand and kisses the back of it.

All Normani can do is stand there and be internally horrified that this is happening in front of Lauren. Speaking of Lauren, if looks could kill both Demi and Normani would be six feet under right now. This is the most pissed Normani has ever seen her and honestly it’s frightening. Demi leaves and now Normani has to face the wrath.

“Two days…” Lauren says lowly.

“Look, it’s not what it seems-“

“TWO FUCKING DAYS!”

And there’s that loud Cuban that Normani knew was waiting to come out. Customers turn to look at them in shock so Normani grabs Lauren by the wrist and drags her in the back. Camila scurries again.

“I’m not the one who took our relationship seriously but you’re the one out dating other people so soon?!” Lauren yells, “It’s been two days!”

“I can tell time and count days. I don’t need the constant reminder from you. Besides why do you care?”

“I care because I came here to tell you that-” Lauren stops and thinks for a beat, “Nevermind. Because someone who can just forget about me and throw whatever we had away after two days obviously isn’t worth all of this trouble.”

“Lauren what were you going to say?”  Normani’s voice trembles.

“Doesn’t matter now. You don’t have to worry about me crashing anymore of your dates ever again, goodbye.” Lauren leaves and Normani’s heart hurts in the worst possible way. Why did that sound so final?


	9. Chapter 9

True to her word, Lauren hasn’t even thought about going back to Normani’s café since their little ‘talk’. Okay, that’s wrong. She has _thought_ about it, actually she’s thought about a lot of things to do with Normani, even though she’s been trying really hard not to, but Normani made it very clear that she doesn’t care that much about Lauren. Lauren can’t believe that she was about to seriously consider changing her views on relationships for this girl. She was right from the start: she’s meant to be alone, and she’s happy with that. So why is it she feels so unhappy now?

Whatever, she’s not going to think about it right now. She’s going to throw herself into her work. Normani was distracting her from getting things done anyway. Suddenly she feels a buzz from her phone and gets it out of her pocket. It’s from Zayn.

_Niall and I are heading home now ! had a great time on our honeymoon but missed you aha see you soon :) xx_

Lauren shakes her head, giggling. She loves Zayn so much. She goes to type a reply.

_Took you long enough. Almost thought you two were never coming back. :P_

**_Z:_ ** _well if we could we probably wouldn’t but we’d miss you too much aha :) x_

**_L:_ ** _Aww… That’s so sweet. :) We should do something together when you get back._

**_Z:_ ** _for sure ! see you soon :) x_

Lauren smiles, putting her phone back in her pocket and returning to her work. Seeing Zayn again may be just what she needs right now.

***

The next day, true to his word, Zayn comes over to Lauren’s house. “Hey babe,” he says, walking over to her desk.

Lauren immediately perks up, turning around and jumping up out of her seat. “Hey,” she nearly yells, giving him a big hug and cheek kiss. She offers him a seat on the couch by the table. “Come, sit down. Tell me everything.” She thinks for a moment, sitting back down on the chair she was on before. “Okay, maybe not _everything_ , but most things.”

Zayn laughs, looking around the table in front of them. “Wow, your table looks actually clean for once.”

Lauren laughs as well. It’s actually true; for once you can actually see the design on the table, which she barely recognizes after years of not seeing it. “I know, I’m shocked. I’ve been throwing myself into my work lately and it’s been paying off.”

“That’s fantastic, babe,” Zayn smiles. Oh how Lauren has missed seeing that smile. “How has Normani been doing?”

Lauren freezes. She was hoping that that question wouldn’t come up so soon, at least not until Zayn told her about his and Niall’s honeymoon. She thinks quickly for a way to answer that doesn’t give too much away. “Umm… She seems to be doing well. She found a new friend named Demi.” Lauren cringes as she says the name and starts swallowing her water all at once so she doesn’t have to speak.

“Demi?” Zayn asks. “As in Lovato?” Lauren doesn’t really remember ever hearing her last name, not that she would’ve cared enough to pay attention to it, but Zayn is waiting for an answer so she just shrugs. “She and Niall were friends once upon a time. They actually bearded for each other for a little while in college.”

Lauren puts down her water glass, half way empty now. “Bearded?”

“Yeah, you know,” Zayn continues. “When two people don’t want to come out as gay so they pretend to date each other to hide the fact.” He laughs at the memory. “Demi was so nice but eventually found a girlfriend and ‘broke up with’ Niall. Poor guy was so sad and scared people would figure out he was gay.” He wipes his eyes from the laughter. “Oh man. Sometimes I wish I could go back to college day Niall and tell him it will all be okay, but I doubt he’d listen to me.”

“Interesting,” Lauren says, getting some more water from the pitcher in the refrigerator.

“Yeah,” Zayn muses, jerking back to reality a few seconds later. “But wait a minute, what do you mean by ‘new friend’? Did you two like… break up or something?”

“Do we really have to talk about this?” Lauren asks, sitting back down and hoping her sadness doesn’t show. “Can’t we just… talk about your honeymoon or something?” Maybe talking it out with Zayn would make her feel better, but the absolute last thing she wants is the possibility that he’ll tell Niall or one of them will tell Normani.

“Okay,” Zayn responds with a sad face, taking the hint.

The two of them spend the rest of the day at Lauren’s house, watching movies and talking about Zayn and Niall’s adventures. Zayn doesn’t bring up Normani again, which Lauren greatly appreciates. They’re only interrupted once or twice by a text to Zayn from Niall (which Lauren isn’t allowed to read) and a call from one of Lauren’s clients.

Finally, Zayn decides it’s time for him to leave. “Bye Lauren,” he says, giving her a final hug and cheek kiss. “It was good to see you again. We’ll do something else tomorrow, yeah?”

“Sounds good,” Lauren responds, smiling. She leads him to the door, even though he’s well aware by now where it is. As she waves goodbye for the last time, she goes back over to her seat in the kitchen and sighs. Seeing her best friend again really was just the thing she needed.

***

Lauren is ignoring Zayn. Evidently Normani told Niall everything, and, as a result Niall told Zayn everything. Normani’s openness with her friends was always one of Lauren’s favorite things about her, but not in this case. “Lauren!” Zayn calls after her. “Come on, can’t we just talk about this?”

They’re both standing in Zayn and Niall’s house. Lauren had come over a few minutes ago because she wanted to hang out with Zayn again, but then he brought up the one thing she thought they had squashed talking about yesterday. Now she’s trying to speed walk out his front door. Finally, she stops and turns around to face him, the biggest glare on her face. “What is there to talk about, Zayn? Niall already told you everything. The evil Lauren Jauregui who doesn’t want to get married ever got angry at the sweet and innocent Normani Kordei and now she’s off in a happier place with this Demi person.”

“That’s not it at all though,” Zayn insists, shaking his head, now mere inches away from her. “Normani and Demi aren’t dating.”

“Pfft,” Lauren laughs. “They seemed pretty cozy to me.” Her hand starts pulling open the door handle. Zayn’s hand pushes hers away from the door and he holds her arms firmly. “Let me go, Zayn.”

“Not until you listen,” he says forcefully. She really doesn’t want to but seeing as how she has no other choice at this moment, she rolls her eyes and gives him a “fine”. He nods. “What Niall told me is that Normani and Demi are most definitely not a thing. Her assistant Camila set her up with Demi so that she’d feel better with someone other than you-” Lauren rolls her eyes because, yeah, she got that Normani would be much happier with Demi than her “- _but_ it didn’t work. The day after you made that scene at her coffee shop, Normani called Demi and told her that, as nice as she is, she _can’t_ be with her because she’s still in love with someone else. You.”

Lauren almost smiles for a moment. Almost. Normani is in love with her? Lauren has never had anyone be in love with her, but still… “That doesn’t change anything. She still probably hates me because I told her I didn’t want us to be ‘girlfriends’.”

“But you do,” Zayn insists. Lauren’s really starting to not like Zayn right now. How the heck is he supposed to know what she wants or doesn’t want? “You do Lauren, okay? I may not be you, but I know you. I know the way you felt, and still feel I’d wager, about Normani. You love her. Maybe not in love yet, but you do love her. I know you’re scared of commitment, but I truly believe Normani was going to be the one to change that for you. I could tell just by the way you two looked at each other.”

He gives her a sad smile and she can’t hold it back anymore. She starts crying long and hard. He’s right. She’s been trying to deny it for so long, but he’s right. She loves Normani, and might actually be in love with her. She’s the one that Lauren _was_ going to throw out all her anti-marriage, anti-commitment beliefs for. Why does Zayn always have to be right? He lets go of his grip on her arms and slides his hands to her back, pulling her into a big hug. “You’re right okay?” she barely gets out, tears covering her face. “But that still doesn’t change anything. There’s no way I can make this right, Zayn. She’s never going to forgive me.”

“Babe,” he says soothingly, rubbing her back. “You don’t know that. Actually, judging by what Niall told me, I’m betting she feels the same way about you.”

She removes her head from his shoulder and looks up at his face, wiping her tears. “Wha – what do you mean? What did he tell you?”

He smiles sadly. “She’s also been crying a lot lately. She’s been taking a lot of time off and letting the other employees take care of most things.”

It makes Lauren sad to think she caused this reaction in Normani. She doesn’t deserve this. Lauren has to make things right, but how? “Where is she right now?”

“At her café,” Zayn answers. “Last Niall told me, she was crying on one of the tables, not caring what any of the customers think. Niall’s there with her, trying and failing to make her feel better.”

Normani never doesn’t care what the customers think. She always puts what the customers think first (unless they insult Camila or ask why ‘someone who looks like her’ runs the café). Lauren removes herself from Zayn’s arms, a new rush building up in her system. “I gotta go talk to her.”

Zayn smiles, like that’s exactly what he’s been waiting to hear. “I’ll take you there.”


	10. Chapter 10

The coffee went cold about a half hour ago and Normani still can’t muster the energy to leave the table she’s sitting at. On any normal occasion a day like this in the café would be amazing. Business is booming. There are people practically flooding the place. Her business is thriving better than ever at the moment but all she can think about is Lauren. Stupid Lauren.

This is all so ridiculous. Why should Normani being feeling this bad? She didn’t do anything wrong. So what she had a date, if you could even call it that, with another woman? Lauren made it pretty clear that she didn’t want what Normani wanted. How was she to know that Lauren was going to have a change of heart or whatever it was that she came to say? But yet she can’t help the way her heart hurts when she remembers the look on Lauren’s face when she saw Demi.

She hasn’t heard from Lauren in days and it’s driving her crazy. She’s not returning texts or calls. Normani even spilled her heart out to Niall about the situation but he’s yet to deliver any information on how Lauren is doing. Normani has to remind herself over and over that Niall just came from his honeymoon and doesn’t want to hear her romantic struggles.

Suddenly her cold cup of coffee is being lifted from the table and replaced with another one. She looks to see Camila giving her a sad smile.

“You okay, boss?” She asks as Normani motions for her to take the seat across from her.

“Yeah” Normani replies but after a beat her resolve breaks, “No. I’m not okay. I miss her.”

Camila looks a bit uncomfortable, like she doesn’t know what to say. But she doesn’t make an excuse to leave. She sits and wallows in Normani’s misery with her. Normani appreciates that.

“I’m sorry about Demi. Introducing you and all. Maybe if it weren’t for me Lauren wouldn’t have walked in-”

“No, don’t be. I had no idea she was gonna show up so how could you?”

“Yeah but-” Camila starts again.

Just then the door to the café chimes and Camila stops talking. She’s facing the door and Normani notices that her eyes widen a bit when she sees who just walked in. Curiosity gets the best of Normani so she turns in her chair to have a look as well. Zayn and Lauren walk in and Normani’s heart feels like it’s trying to escape her body.

She’s suddenly very self-conscious of her appearance. Normani hates that Lauren makes her feel like this.

“I guess I’ll go do… something. Bye.” And Camila’s gone in a flash leaving Normani alone as Zayn and Lauren draw nearer.

When they get to the table they all say hi. Lauren stands back a bit awkwardly as Zayn and Normani embrace.

“Oh, would you look at the time?” Zayn makes a show of checking his watch, “I gotta go pick up dinner for Niall and I. Lauren you’ll be fine getting home, right?”

Lauren nods and Zayn gives her an encouraging smile and leaves.

Lauren sits down across from Normani and an awkward silence forms between them. Normani can tell by the look on her face that Lauren has a lot on her mind and so does she. Right now it’s a waiting game on who’s going to be the first to crack.

“I’m sorry!” Both women say simultaneously shocking each other. They start to laugh and the tension melts away. It feels normal and all Normani has wanted these past few days is _normal_.

“What are you sorry about?” Lauren asks after the giggles subside.

“For blowing up on you at you apartment… Demi…” Normani trails off and looks away sheepishly.

“Yeah, you right. I deserve an apology for those things.”

Normani looks at Lauren’s face which is graced with a stupid sarcastic smirk. They burst out laughing again and Normani throws a balled up napkin at Lauren.

“No, but seriously I understand. I made my issues with commitment your issues as well and that was selfish of me and I realized that. That’s what I came here to say but then…”

“You caught me on a date” Normani finishes.

“Yes, but I guess I can’t blame you for that either. It seemed like we were done. I don’t want to be done though.” Lauren reaches across the table and grabs Normani’s hand, “Normani Hamilton will you be my girlfriend?”

Normani has a hard time containing the smile that’s consuming her entire face, “Lauren are you asking me to go steady?”

“You’re so annoying but if that’s the term you want to use then yes I am.”

Normani takes her hand out of Lauren’s and picks up her coffee cup to take a sip.

“I’ll have to think about it.” She says and Lauren’s eyes nearly pop out of her head.

“ARE YOU FUC-” Lauren starts to yell and Normani hurriedly leans across the table and silences her with a kiss.

“Of course I want to be your girlfriend! Are you kidding me? That’s all I wanted since the first date no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise.” She leans over the table and Lauren meets her in the middle with another kissing. All Normani can think of is how good it feels to be kissing her girlfriend, yes girlfriend.

“So how about we go stop and get some wine on the way back to my place. Dinah is away right now so we can relax and watch Netflix.” Lauren says with a smile.

“Better idea… the tv can watch us.” Normani counters wagging her eyebrows making Lauren laugh again.

“Babe, you have the best ideas!” Lauren gets out of her seats and tugs Normani out of hers, “Let’s go!”

And for once it all felt right. Normani had the woman of her dreams and she actually wanted her back. Life is good.


	11. Epilogue

Lauren is so glad that she decided to go back to Normani. She really hadn’t realized how much she truly missed her. Before the two of them get back to Lauren’s house so they can get it on, she makes sure to text Zayn and Niall to let them know that the two of them are together again.

**_Zayn:_ ** _that’s great to hear babe. We should do something tomorrow to celebrate aha :) x_

**_Niall:_ ** _Psh , took ya long enough. Happy for ya tho ! see ya tomorrow !_

Lauren laughs at the difference between the two texts, showing Normani, who laughs too. “Tomorrow? Why not tonight?”

Lauren shrugs. “Maybe they’re planning their own ‘TV watching’.” The two of them giggle the entire rest of the way to Lauren’s house.

***

It’s been five years since Normani and Lauren first started officially dating. Zayn and Niall’s marriage is still as strong as ever. Normani’s still working at her café. Lauren is retiring from wedding planning and moving on to a different job, but not before planning one last one: her own.

“Babe,” Zayn says, grabbing her shoulders. “It’s gonna be all good, yeah? You need to not stress so much. You’re the queen of wedding planning.” He smiles at her and she smiles back, wiping her eyes. He’s probably right, she knows. It’s just so much harder planning a wedding for yourself than it is for even the hardest of clients. The two of them embrace and Lauren feels better. “Now, go put your dress on. Niall and I can take it from here.”

Lauren loves Zayn and Niall both to death but she’s not completely sure they can, in fact, take it from here since they don’t have as much experience with wedding planning as she does. Then again, she’s outlined the whole thing to them like ten times in the last three days alone, so maybe she’s just overreacting. Begrudgingly, she listens to what Zayn says and goes to change into her dress.

When she comes back out, Zayn takes a moment to gape at her. “Lauren, you look… you look amazing.” Lauren can feel her cheeks going red. “But isn’t it like bad luck to see the bride in her dress? I think that means it should be like double bad luck if it’s two brides.” Lauren pushes him playfully and the two of them giggle. “Now go already. Don’t keep hanging around me. I’m not the one you’re marrying.”

Lauren rolls her eyes and goes out to greet people. She told Normani ahead of time that even though she would be getting married and thus completely giving up her ‘no commitment’ vow, she still doesn’t believe in most of the wedding ‘traditions’ people do – not letting people see the bride in her dress, being ‘given away’ by her father, and not greeting the other guests. She definitely wants to greet the other guests before she and Normani make their vows.

Looking around at the crowd, on one side she sees Normani’s family, Camila, and a few of her other co-workers whose names escape her. On the other side she sees her family, as well as Dinah and one or two other people. She didn’t really feel like inviting too too many people because she’s never really felt like making a big deal out of things that happen to her, even though this is a really, really big deal.

She makes her way over to her side. Before she can completely get over there, Dinah starts shouting at her. “THERE SHE IS!” All at once, Dinah runs up to Lauren and hugs her. Lauren hugs back, laughing. “I’m so proud of you, girl. Oh my gosh. You’re the real MVP.”

“Thanks Dinah” is all Lauren can say. She feels tears (happy tears that is) forming in her eyes. Just when she’s about to go and talk to her other friends and family, Normani suddenly appears and it’s like the rest of the world doesn’t exist. She looks absolutely stunning. Her hair and make-up have been done to perfection and her dress. Her dress just makes her look that much more like an angel (not that she ever really needs to try in that aspect). She’s talking to her friends and family though, so Lauren probably looks even creepier just gaping at her. At that moment though, she doesn’t care. After exchanging a few words with her friends and family, Normani turns and faces Lauren and has the same kind of expression as Lauren probably does right now: amazed. Lauren thinks it’s undeserved though because there’s no way she looks better than Normani does.

After a few moments of just staring at each other (and Camila and Dinah laughing in the background), they suddenly hear a throat clearing from the front. They turn around and see Niall. “Well uh, I hate to interrupt the very important staring and all, but we have a wedding to get going now.” With laughter from the crowd and blushes from Lauren and Normani, the two girls walk up to the front, Lauren ahead of Normani, and prepare for the priest to come in.

***

The wedding went off without a hitch, much to Normani’s delight. Although things with Lauren have been fantastic and she’s changed her views on marriage and commitment a lot Normani couldn’t stop the small part of her that was afraid that Lauren wouldn’t go through with the vows, or worse, not show up at all. But all that worry seemed to be in vain.

Lauren was there in front of her professing that they’d be together forever and Normani felt like she was dreaming. The sweetest dream she had ever had and she never ever wanted it to end.

Normani has spent the last two hours as Mrs. Hamilton-Jauregui and so far so good. The reception is in full swing and everyone is having an amazing time. Her _Man of Honor,_ Niall, gave an amazing speech and only embarrassed her a little. Everything is perfect but what else could she expect marrying the (former) top wedding planner in the city.

Sipping from a glass of champagne she watches Camila and her fiancé, Austin, from across the room. Normani would say they’re dancing but it’s mostly Camz just stepping on the poor guy’s feet and him trying to grin and bear it. Normani decides that she’s had enough of watching Austin suffer so she gets up to make her way over to the couple. But a hand on her shoulder stops her in her tracks. A beautifully manicured hand with a new sparkling wedding ring on it.

“Leave them alone and come dance with your wife,” Lauren leans down and whispers into her ear and there’s no way Normani can argue with that. She lets Lauren grab her by the hand and lead her to the middle of the small dance floor. Even though they’re surrounded by close family and friends it feels like a private party for just the two of them.

“I love how you assume that I was going to go bother them.” Normani fake pouts and Lauren kisses it away quickly.

“Oh that was no assumption. I knew that look on your face.” Lauren laughs and Normani playfully rolls her eyes but holds on to Lauren tighter as they sway to the music.

“I still can’t believe this day. I actually got you down the aisle and you weren’t kicking and screaming.”

“At least not out loud…” Lauren retorts and Normani resists the urge to pinch her.

“Whatever, now that we’re married we can move on to other things. Maybe like… babies…” Normani tries to slyly slip the subject into the conversation but Lauren definitely notices because she raises her head and looks at Normani as if she’s grown another one.

“Babies! We just got married! Certainly we can’t-”

Normani cuts her off with a kiss and Lauren forgets all about babies, for now. Welcome to married life, Lauren Hamilton-Jauregui.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been one of my favorite stories to do and I want to thank Dri for making it with me, despite all my annoying "fic updates yet?" tweets 24/7. I love you. I didn't want this story to end but I'm so glad it did the way it did. I love you Dri, Ellie, and everyone who reads this. <3


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